Location data, indicating the location of a vehicle, person, place or thing, is pervasive in today's world. The most commonly used location data includes street addresses (e.g., “123 Main Street, Anytown, Ga.”). Other forms of location data include latitude/longitude pairs and various other coordinate systems. Addresses and coordinates can be collectively referred to as “location-specifiers.”
Location-specifiers are used to send mail, travel to a destination, provide navigation instructions, track the movement of vehicles, persons or things, and for other related purposes. Software and hardware applications for entering, retrieving, and using location-specifiers exist today. For example, it is possible to use a paper map to find an address, and it is possible to enter an address or latitude/longitude coordinate into an electronic navigation device.
However, the existing location-specifiers have limitations. Street addresses are sometimes difficult to remember, and are subject to transcription errors. For example, the omission of an “N.,” substitution with an “S.,” or a dropped digit, can cause confusion and inaccuracy.
Although street addresses are commonly used by people to locate a place of business or to determine a place for people or resources to meet, they are not useful for businesses, organizations or people which move from place to place. Examples of such organizations or people include theater troupes, music bands, radio station contest vans, mobile food trucks and mobile resources like service technicians or salespeople.
Existing systems for retrieving (“looking up”) the street address of a person or business involve delays and can be out-of-date. For example, a newly-opened restaurant will be first listed in a telephone directory many months after it is opened. Similarly, the updates of electronic directories (“point of interest databases”) also involve delays before new information is available to those who use the information.
Furthermore, street addresses can be ambiguous due to inconsistent street naming and numbering changes over time as cities rename, rebuild, and adjust their road networks. Additionally, street addresses are limited in their coverage. For example, locations away from towns and cities may not have addresses. Further, street addresses are limited in accuracy. While the street address of a large stadium or park may be well-known, that address is not useful for identifying specific locations within a multi-acre area.
Latitude/longitude coordinates and other coordinate systems also have limitations. For example, latitude/longitude coordinates, while being precise, are numeric: (37.112932, −108.292911) and therefore difficult for people to remember and are subject to significant transcription errors.